A series of YA fantasy novels for young adults by Hilari Bell. It takes place in Deorthas, a country ruled by its young prince, Edoran – though really it is ruled by his regent until he turns twenty-two. The battle over the regency, and indeed the kingdom, runs throughout the novels, but the main focus is on three teenagers who become deeply involved in the political scheming: a thief-turned-clerk, Weasel; a brigand's daughter, Arisa; and Edoran himself.
The books in the series are:
- The Shield of Stars
- The Sword of Waters
- The Crown of Earth
The Shield, Sword, and Crown series provides examples of:
- Evil Chancellor: Regent Pettibone, who deliberately keeps Prince Edoran ignorant and uneducated (including keeping him from reading) so he can be Regent for Life and killed hundreds of people in the coup that gained him the regency, including the Falcon's husband.
- Fisher King: Inverted with Edoran: the blights upon the kingdom affect him, rather than him affecting the kingdom.
- Foreshadowing: A lot, not even including the repeated arcanara readings that all but spell out what will happen. For example, when Weasel first encounters the shield while escaping from prison, he suddenly feels extremely faint, and at that moment, three comets appear in the sky simultaneously.
- Gentleman Thief: Weasel, despite his childhood, is actually the best-educated of the trio and extremely reluctant to hurt or kill anyone.
- Grey-and-Grey Morality: Almost no one is completely innocent and every character has their own agenda. Even unambiguously good characters, like Justice Holis, are capable of political maneuvering.
- Hidden in Plain Sight: Both the Shield of Stars and the Sword of Waters. The former was stored with a bunch of old theater props, and the latter is holding up an inn's sign.
- King Incognito: Edoran throughout most of Crown of Earth.
- Lampshade Hanging: In Shield of Stars, Weasel expresses his doubt that they'll find a hidden tunnel in the castle, since that only happens in bad three-book series. They promptly find a hidden tunnel.
- Late-Arrival Spoiler: It's impossible to discuss the events of the latter two books without giving away that Arisa's mother is the Falcon.
- Not What It Looks Like: Arisa and Prince Edoran ride off together to an abandoned stable for secret fencing practice and get into a tickle fight. When they are caught by an entourage of noblemen, they are furious that everyone assumes they were ruining Arisa's reputation, not least because at this point they really dislike each other and also Weasel was with them.
- The Old Gods: The primary religion of the city of Deorthas is that of the One God, but an older polytheistic system still exists in the country and survives through forgotten symbology in things like arcanara cards and the names of the months.
- Tarot Motifs: Deorthas has its own version of tarot cards, called arcanara, that are used by most as playing cards but are used by believers of the old religion to tell fortunes. The start of each chapter has a different arcanara card.
- Tarot Troubles: Surprisingly averted: while major arcana show up a lot, the hanged man is depicted accurately (as a symbol of self-sacrifice rather than death), and the only instance of the lightning-struck tower is when foretelling a great loss.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: The Falcon, who robs the rich to finance her rebellion, and later tries to steal the shield and sword and kidnap the prince to cement her rule.
